Enter this sanctuary time by settling down, becoming quiet, and breathing deeply a few breaths. Remind yourself you are in the Presence of Love. This place you are entering, within, is the inner Temple. Here, you are One with Spirit and all persons, and Nature. You may use a mantra, or prayer phrase, follow the breathing in-and-out, or witness the arising and falling of all around you as the manifestation of universal-Grace. Enjoy these moments of Quiet and come out when you are ready. The following video is provided, for those who would like meditative music to accompany your Quiet contemplation:

*Kokin Gumi. Zen Garden.

What happens is that the separate entity that is you apparently disappears and nothing seems to be left but a pure freedom indistinguishable from infinite Freedom, love identified with Love. Not two loves, one waiting for the other, striving for the other, seeking for the other, but Love Loving in Freedom.

*Thomas Merton. New Seeds of Contemplation. “Pure Love.”

Forgiveness is a miracle of Love. Forgiveness means releasing another person from how he or she, knowingly or not, harmed you. In forgiving her, you forgive yourself, meaning in releasing her in your mind-heart from that past, you free yourself from that past. Forgiveness says yes to the present, and goodbye to the past. Forgiveness, then, is a gift to her and yourself.

*Arem Nahariim-Samadhi. "Forgiveness: The Gift."

After having to speak of a person whom I had felt deeply hurt by, something uprising happened within me. To have to refer to this painful past situation - deep feelings of betrayal had been difficult, markedly hurtful - was disturbing. Suddenly, however, while alone in quiet, I began to feel a fresh Love, a gentle, non-judgmental acceptance of the person.

I mean “within” as arising from the Center, God-Within, for this could not merely arise from my logical mind. Indeed, to the human mind this sensation of Loving forgiveness may appear everything but logical.

Such Generous Grace does not arise from calculating why we should love one whom we feel betrayed by. Yet, this Grace came like a Gift, partly due to other inner healing and convergences that prepared my mind-heart to sprout a bloom of gentle Generosity.

In Luke 15, of the Christian Bible, we read of a dad whose son betrayed him. The boy demanded his inheritance, abandoned his family, and scampered along the road to a life of depravity, squandering every penny. He, a non-pork Jew, ends up feeding the porky pigs in the smelly swine sty.

Here is surprising, apparently illogical Grace, immense and seemingly senseless Love on display: “And he arose and walked back home to his father. But when the son was a far way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, kissing him” (Luke 15.20).

The dad was willing to appear foolish. He did appear foolish to his older son, who refused to forgive his brother. To the dad, forgiving the son was the springing forth of the always-abundant Love in his heart. For the father to appear foolish was witness to a Grace that freely forgives before being asked to forgive.

The father “felt compassion.” I mention above the feeling I had in the moment of sensing a fresh Love. Forgiveness, again, is not merely a cerebral thing. Forgiveness arises as a spiritual Feeling that transmutes past feelings.

Before forgiving, since our Love is not as ardent and free as Love makes actual, our will to love someone afresh, to release the person and ourselves from the past, begins with willingness to do so. And, likely, when fresh Love arises for someone who has deeply wronged us, we find that the reforming of our seeing and feeling toward the person comes as a gift, a surprising arising in a moment we did not and could not anticipate.

To offer a financial Love Gift, write briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
Thank You!

©Arem Nahariim-Samadhi and Love Light Ministries. 02/13/11